There is very little in this world that would get between me and playing an RPG made by Final Fantasy dad Hironobu Sakaguchi, double for one with a soundtrack composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Unless, of course, that game was exclusive to Apple Arcade, which Fantasian has been since its 2021 release. I will not speak poorly of Apple, for I already have several other cults out for my blood. Instead, I’ll simply celebrate the fact that, as per Tuesday’s Nintendo DIrect, the game that Sakaguchi developed “thinking it could be [his] final game before retiring” is coming to PC later this year, in ‘Neo Dimension’ form. Have a trailer.
While perhaps lacking a bit of flair and visual identity in the character design department – aside from not-Vincent, he’s cool – there’s that lovely Sakaguchi sense of sprawling adventure emanating from the trailer, alongside Final Fantasy staples like ornate airships and very large whales. As for the combat, it’s turn-based random overworld encounters, but with a system called “Dimengoen”. You activate this, and any monsters you’d normally get interrupted to fight are saved in your monster bag, for you to have a crack at whenever you feel like it. Sakaguchi, my beloved.
The new version – which Sakaguchi has enlisted the help of FF14 and 16’s Naoki Yoshida to bring to life – brings 4K visuals and a new difficulty mode, which Square Enix describe as follows:
FANTASIAN was a very difficult game upon release, with many bosses pounding players before they worked out the optimal strategies to defeat them. FANTASIAN Neo Dimension adds a new ‘Normal’ difficulty, to make the game a little more approachable. Of course, if you crave the challenge of the original game, that’s still there too!
In a Twix post, Sakaguchi writes that “the strength of a digital title is that it can continue existing without deteriorating, and I wanted FANTASIAN to be an especially long-standing title. Having the opportunity to rebuild it at SQUARE ENIX this way and making it widely-known is a truly a blessing.” He goes on to shout out Uematsu, the developers, and the “diorama craftsman”. You can see one of these beautiful handmade locales in the header to this article, and boy, do they lend the game an incredibly special vibe. It’s coming to Steam this Winter, though there’s no listing at the time of writing.